Hundreds show up for first-ever Kalamazoo Water Festival

Shawano Cleary | Special to GazetteAlex Mitchell, 4, of Grand Junction, left, and Magdalena Reeder, 2, of Kalamazoo, play in a water spout at the first inaugural Kalamazoo Water Festival at Arcadia Creek Festival Place on Saturday.

KALAMAZOO — Though the Kalamazoo River oil spill caused organizers of Kalamazoo’s first festival about clean water to ironically cancel some morning events planned at the river, that didn’t deter hundreds from taking in what the Kalamazoo Water Festival had to offer at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place on Saturday.

“Part of our mission is to inspire people to care and even recognize the impact they can have. And if they can make different choices they can have a positive impact” on local waterways, said Jeff Spoelstra, a coordinator for the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, which sponsored the event along with several other environmental groups.

Several organizations had booths at the festival, including the Kalamazoo Nature Center and Kalamazoo Environmental Council.

“This is to bring people out and give these different groups a chance to tell that similar story,” he said.

Organizers hope it becomes an annual event.

Education about ways of managing storm water runoff, raising awareness about protecting the resource and the health of the Kalamazoo River Watershed were the themes of the festival.

No one was too young to learn Saturday.

“Daddy, I’m going to catch some fish!” 6-year-old Olive Tatara informed her father after climbing off equipment at the festival place play area Saturday and trying to hook a yellow plastic fish.

Normally an unlikely location for bringing in a catch, the play area was transformed into “Storm Water Otter World,” as part of the Water Festival.

The play equipment became a sort of education station for kids could learn about how clean water benefits aquatic creatures such as otters and fish.

The play equipment, face painting, music and activities were the enticement, but the intention was to “be able to talk to them and their parents about stormwater management,” said Patricia Crowley, Kalamazoo County’s Drain Commissioner, and on Saturday, overseer of Otter World.

Shawano Cleary | Special to GazetteAmelia Danek, 6, of Kalamazoo, shows her artistic abilities as she paints a ceramic fish while her step-mother, Ann Marie Boyle, looks on during the first inaugural Kalamazoo Water Festival.

“As you know the habitat of the river it dependent upon on the quality of the water that comes to the river,” said Crowley, who offered information about rainwater harvesting, rain gardens and permeable concrete — all ways to filter water of impurities before running off into rivers and streams.

Kalamazoo resident Jay Tatara brought his brood of two to the festival.

“The idea of the watershed and that being an important thing is something I’ve had a long history of being interested in,” he said.

Even Olive and 4-year-old son Wallace learn at home about the importance of being a good environmental stewards through collecting rain water, maintaining a garden and having unpaved driveway so that rain water filters through the soil.

“We talk about oil in the Kalamazoo River and that’s important and tragic,” he said, “but the little decisions are really important and they add up.”